Where is Montana anyway?

Good morning, afternoon and evening everyone. After battling with the cold that my good friend Tannan and his wife gave me during the Fourth of July weekend, I am back to being 100%. I know, you really don't care but then again, this is my blog and I can write what I want (assuming I remain compliant with the Patriot Act and on Homeland Security's good side). I have begun my detailed preparation for the LSAT that I hope to take within the next few months with school starting in the fall ('09). I am still applying for both my MPA and now I am really pressing to going back to school for my JD.

If I go the route of the JD, I will do something useful with it by studying a topic that matters. At this point it probably will be business or real estate law. I can tell you that it will not be anything "environmental" or "social" as I really could care less about those topics. I took a practice test and scored in the 150's, which isn't bad but I want my scores to get up to the high 160's or the 170's before I take the test for real. It will take me three to four years to graduate and I will take the bar but not sure if I will go to a law firm after that or stay in the public sector. Money will play a role in it but I also love the public sector.

Anyway, I am hoping to get up to Montana in late August or early September but I am waiting for my good friend Tannan to get his and his wife's act together. I will need road trip buddies as it is a 17 hour drive that I really do not want to do on my own. I still think that Montana is the land God forgot but I have not been there so for me to express an opinion is premature. I am looking forward to it but I always love a good car ride. I cannot spend too much money as I need to save my money for school, a house, and to pay off my debt. Too much need, not enough income. In other news, I heard this country's wonderful speaker of the house talk about how George Bush and his administration a total failure. Hmmm, I don't know, getting Lybia to give up its hopes at WMD's, helping the Northern Alliance to de-throne the Taliban, getting North Korea to begin dismantling the nuclear program, now sitting down with Iran and opening up a diplomatic presence there, cussing out a reporter during his first campaign, and bring Air Force One and himself to Miramar where I got to be there, 20 feet away, not necessarily a total failure. Yes, there was the whole Iraq war, a war that I supported but not because of the "wmd" excuse. I supported it to get rid of Saddam. Has it been handled well? Of course not. Have there been a lot of failures, absolutely but I wouldn't call it a total failure.

Total failure would be a congress that continues to bow down and pass bills that a majority of its members publicly denounce, yet they keep voting for them and bitching when the President signs them into laws. Pssst. Here's a hint. If you don't pass the laws you don't want, then they cannot be signed into law.

By the way, I come from the school of thought that the US Constitution applies to US Citizens; otherwise it would be very arrogant to think that our laws apply to anyone. I do not see how an alien (no matter what nationality) is covered by our constitution… as long as they are not within the physical boundaries of the US or its territories. Gitmo and the prisoners would be covered because it is considered sovereign US Soil. I strongly disagree with the US actions and support the recent Supreme Court decisions regarding the treatment of prisoners. In all the wars, past, present, and future, the US is/should be better than others in their treatment of prisoners. This is a moral ground that should never be altered, no matter what the "National Security" threat.

Another 4th of July gone by

I hope everyone is having/had a great 4^th of July weekend. I am sure it was filled with the usual fireworks, national anthem, Old Glory flying everywhere (yes I know Old Glory is one flag that is currently undergoing massive preservation efforts and as such is not every star spangled banner we see flying everywhere), and many different variations of God Bless America and Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA. I will detour from my usual 4^th blog where I boast about how great the country is, even with its many, many faults. Instead, I wanted to take a few minutes to thank those who have served, are serving, or will serve in the armed forces or the many peace groups out there (Freedom Corps, Peace Corps, Red Cross, etc). Despite the many flaws that our and the international media love to point out (let's face it; there is no better story in a foreign country than how the USA screwed something up), Nothing is ever said about the many good things that we are doing, even under this Administration and Congress (I support the current Administration… Congress is a different story). But more on that later in this blog.

Whether or not you disagree with the war on terrorism/Iraq, I would hope you support the troops, who are willing to risk their lives for us and others. Enough cannot be said about them and I just wanted to add my many thanks. At my city hall, there is a "wall" that the Veterans Center has on display with a simple phrase that while it may not poetic, it does sum up the service of the military personnel, "All gave some, Some gave all".

Something caught my eye the other day that was just sad. On a street corner you had a large group of anti-war protesters with signs essentially saying pull them out/bring them home now. They were loud and while I disagree with them, I support their right to protest. What made me sad was on the other corner, there were a small group of pro-war (I will not say pro-military because the anti-war people may be pro-military, just against this particular war) demonstrators (I do not think you can call them protesters as they are not against a current policy/action) that were just sitting there with very simple signs. From my vantage point, it did not look like they were saying anything but they were being yelled at (I assume, the people looked very angry) by two of the anti-war people (they had the anti-war signs). Why is that okay? They are doing the same thing the other group is doing yet they are being yelled at? If it was because they support the war, then that is truly sad. Anyways, on to my ramblings below.

To be fair, I should clarify my 1st paragraph sentence. It isn't that nothing is ever said of these good things, they are either pushed off the main stories or are very briefly covered. During the Christmas Day tsunami a few years ago or the Burma Cyclone Nargis that is still a humanitarian nightmare, very few stories were covered showing that the US, along with many, many other nations were trying to help. The US sent USNS Mercy to the tsunami region and I believe, although I have not confirmed this, to Burma. The Tsunami victims allowed the US to help and we did so willingly and without a favor in return. Our military also sent ships to Burma that to this day are still denied access to unload vital humanitarian aid supplies. Granted, we are not liked around the world and the Junta are pussies but I would think that the media would run a few stories on this. Do not get me wrong, I am not expecting the international media to play into the propaganda campaign of the United States, but run something.

Despite our "quick draw" policy, we were able to negotiate with two nations that are our enemies, and arrive at a peaceful solution. Libya and North Korea. The North Korea story, I think, should be a huge story. The US was able to get North Korea to agree to a plan to dismantle their nuclear weapons and their ability to produce them. Yes, the US and 4 other nations arrived at the agreement with the North but do not forget that it was the US's idea and insistence on the 6 party talks. This brought other nations who have an interest in the nuclear North and Korea's closest ally, China. This was important and it was resolved, on paper at least, at a table and not on a battlefield. I would think even those who disagree or even hate President Bush would be happy to hear of a peaceful solution but the story is rarely talked about on the media, especially on CNN and MSNBC. For fairness, Fox News did cover this story to a greater degree but despite their claims, they favor my political side and party.

There really isn't any point to my blog and I know the logic and arguments are rudimentary compared to other brilliant writers but this is what crossed my mind as I wrote this so I wanted to type this down.